Living Like a Writer

The last year of my life, the inner writer in me has been stirred. I love blogging and I get a total thrill out of all the people who tell me they read my blog. Seriously, nothing makes me more jazzed than finding another reader! Having an audience is so important for a writer.

This school year I will be teaching a double block reading and writing class. This means I will only have half the students on the team but I will get them for two linked class periods. Ninety minutes together to read, write and create!

I'm in prep mode for the school year and I am thinking about teaching writing, since it is a new subject for me. I recently joined a writing group myself and since Spring Break, I've upped my entries on this blog quite a bit. I am trying to live like a writer, see the story behind the daily run ins and little moments. Being in the writing group has 1.) forced me to write and share my writing outside the protection of this blog and 2.) grown my confidence in my writing ability. Never once has the group thrown my writing back and me and said, "Sara, this is total crap. Never show your inarticulate face here again!" So while I know I have far to go in my writing skills, I also feel myself growing and noticing more. I'm always thinking ooh, this would be a great blog entry. I actually now carry my camera with me in my purse in case a blog opportunity arises. I read other bloggers' writing and I aspire to write like that. I try out techniques I see in the writing of my peers and I am taking more risks.

All this to say, I hope the same for my students. I hope this year they discover the inner writer inside. I hope they find their voice and get a thrill out of sharing their writing like I do. Writing is a pretty difficult thing at fist glance. I mean, you're being asked to produce something and we're so used to being evaluated on our writing. But what if we just started by writing for the sake of writing; because it's therapeutic, it's empowering, it's a way to connect with the world? What could happen if we allowed the words to fall out on the page and went from there.

Feeling excited and hopeful. Sitting at It's a Grind coffeehouse (that might be part of euphoric feeling...)